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Satellite Images Show Damage to Shelters at Russian Air Base in Crimea, No Aircraft Losses Confirmed
Ukrainian SBU reported drone strikes on Saki Air Base in Crimea on Wednesday and Friday. Vantor satellite imagery shows damage to six of seven hardened aircraft shelters. SBU claimed at least seven Russian aircraft were destroyed or damaged.
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Ukrainian SBU forces struck Russia’s Saki Air Base in Crimea with drones on Wednesday and Friday. The service said seven hangars were hit and that at least seven Su-30SM, Su-30, and Su-24 aircraft were destroyed or damaged. Vantor satellite images taken the morning after the Friday strike show damage to six of seven hardened aircraft shelters, with doors blown off four of them.
Imagery from Planet Labs on June 27 showed no comparable damage. SBU stated it had no visual confirmation of aircraft losses from either attack. Saki Air Base houses the Russian Navy’s 43rd Independent Naval Attack Aviation Regiment, which operates mostly Su-30SM Flankers.
The base was struck in the opening phase of the war. Russian reserve colonel Viktor Murakhovsky said he took part in the “Crimean Alert” command-staff exercise focused on repelling a Ukrainian landing in Crimea. The scenario included maritime routes across the Black Sea and defensive positions around Sevastopol and the Kerch area.
In October 2023 the Ukrainian GUR sent a small raiding party north of Tarkhankut Bay using Sea-Doo personal watercraft armed with grenade launchers, machine guns, and MANPADS.
